Rockezine.com interview with Blind Dog on Aug 10, 2003

with Joakim Thell on Aug 10, 2003


		What do you think of “Captain Dog Rides Again” yourself? We think it’s an album that is more focused than our last album. We’re pleased with it; it shows that we have come a way but still have much to offer.
		How was the recording process? How long did it take, and how was it done? It took us about two weeks to record. We recorded all the drums first and then listened to the guitars and bass to see if we had to re-do anything. Since Tobias was singing as we recorded we re-recorded most of the bass and most guitars as well. The last few days we brought in a session keyboard player called Andreas Barringer who did his bit when almost everything was ready. The guitar solos were all recorded on one afternoon.
		Was it very different from the former album, with the dubbing of vocals and acoustic and electric guitars? The difference was mainly in the song writing process. When we recorded The Last Adventures we had already all the songs done. This time we had to reflect more upon what we thought the album might need.
		How was the writing process? It seems like it’s done more jam based, with so many different pieces and moods within the songs Sometimes, Tobias or Joakim has a riff or an idea for a song, but most of the times we just play till something comes along. The best songs are those when everyone in the band has added his bit.
		Done any digging in the past? Except Black Sabbath and Cream (which were also on the debut album), there are also influences of Kiss, Alice Cooper and even Grateful Dead on this one. Actually no one in the band has got any Alice Cooper or Grateful Dead albums, maybe we should get some before we record our next album. But yes, we are mainly influenced by older music. Maybe it’s because we write so much together; we jam and come up with a sound for the songs that works without having to think to much about special effects. Then in the studio we experiment with other instruments. But for a song like Be the same we had an idea that we would a different sound early on.
		Joakim is a real magician on guitar, with lots of technique, but also the right “feel”, who are his examples in guitar playing? He listened quite a lot to Jimi Hendrix a couple of years ago. When he was learning to play the guitar he actually listened quite a lot to Metallica. The different tunings used on both albums is inspired by an interview with Soundgarden in some guitar magazine
		The sinister though always tense noises makes you wonder what is in his box of tricks beside the traditional wah, and delay. What is the equipment used. He uses an octaver pedal sometimes and for this recording he also used a pedal that Berno had in the studio, that we can’t remember the name of; you can hear it on the last solo of Be the same. He doesn’t like digital effects.
		Like in the milestone “Blend” from the debut album, we get more sensitive vocals beside the rough throat. Is that a matter of development, or is there a special reason for it? Well, off course there is a certain degree of development; we hope that people agree that Tobias is a better singer. But mainly is a question of dynamics. We want an album that has its heavy parts and softer parts to make it more interesting.
		With the former interview Joakim said the interest for the debut album was pretty poor in Sweden. Any improvement on the home front, are they ready for you there yet? To this date (22nd July 2003) the new album hasn’t been released in Sweden yet. But it looks like the interest might be bigger this time. A friend of ours called Johan Fagerström is making a video for the song Iron cage and we are of course hoping that this will help to increase the interest for the band as well.
		You are using the “old” band logo again. What’s the story behind that? On the label release of The Last Adventures MeteorCity had hired an artist who did the whole cover. We had already done it once so we thought we’d see what it might look like if someone else did it. But we have continued to use the old logo on posters, T-shirts and coffee mugs so we thought we’d continue to use it.
		Do you feel at home at the new record company? Listenable isn’t really known for their stoner rock. From what we understand Listenable wants to expand and release some not extremely heavy bands and we are part of that effort. It feels really good to have a company in Europe working for us, cause it’s closer to home.
		Blind Dog is a real live band (which I’ve seen, even when playing before 40 people, due to no publicity, giving more than the full 100%), any plans for a promotion tour for the new album? We are working on a tour in the Netherlands some time round November and hopefully we can catch a couple of shows on the way there in Denmark and/or Germany. We might do one or two shows in England as well. Check out the new website (by Hanna Engkvist) for more details in the future: www.stonerrock.com/BlindDog
(Cor Schilstra)